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Boring Asian Female
Elizabeth Zhang knows her place in the world. She knows she’s in the tenth percentile for likability, the seventieth percentile for attractiveness, and the ninety-ninth percentile for academics.
With a hard-working ethic instilled in her by immigrant parents, armed with impeccable grades, Elizabeth thinks she is set for Harvard Law School. Until she is rejected for being too ordinary, which she translates to mean she's just another boring Asian female. But when her classmate Laura Kim gets in, everything falls apart. Why was Laura accepted? What makes her so interesting?
At first, she follows her because she’s just curious. What Laura eats for lunch. Where Laura shops. The answer for Elizabeth’s failure must lie somewhere in Laura’s life. But still, Elizabeth just can’t see it. The only thing she sees is that Laura has taken her spot at Harvard.
A spot she knows she deserves. A spot that she’ll simply have to take back.
Layered, subversive, and satirical, this novel brings to light how, in the face of societal expectations and self-inflicted pressures, a person can unlock the darkest parts of themselves and show how far they’re willing to go to achieve their vision of success.
With a hard-working ethic instilled in her by immigrant parents, armed with impeccable grades, Elizabeth thinks she is set for Harvard Law School. Until she is rejected for being too ordinary, which she translates to mean she's just another boring Asian female. But when her classmate Laura Kim gets in, everything falls apart. Why was Laura accepted? What makes her so interesting?
At first, she follows her because she’s just curious. What Laura eats for lunch. Where Laura shops. The answer for Elizabeth’s failure must lie somewhere in Laura’s life. But still, Elizabeth just can’t see it. The only thing she sees is that Laura has taken her spot at Harvard.
A spot she knows she deserves. A spot that she’ll simply have to take back.
Layered, subversive, and satirical, this novel brings to light how, in the face of societal expectations and self-inflicted pressures, a person can unlock the darkest parts of themselves and show how far they’re willing to go to achieve their vision of success.
10 pages, Audible Audio
First published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 923 reviews
April 9, 2026
4.75⭐️ Honestly didn’t expect to be this hooked, but I absolutely flew through this.
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is one of those books where not a lot “happens” on the surface, yet you’re completely gripped because of how intense it feels inside the main character’s head. From the very beginning, I was pulled into Elizabeth’s world and couldn’t look away as things slowly started to unravel.
She’s such a complex character—driven, precise, and slightly unsettling in the way she sees everything as measurable and ranked. It makes the story feel so controlled at first, which only makes the shift as things spiral even more compelling.
What really stood out to me was how relatable the pressure felt. That constant need to succeed, to be the best, to prove yourself—it’s explored in such a sharp and honest way. It’s uncomfortable at times, but in a way that really makes you think.
Canwen Xu’s writing feels confident and intentional—very focused, almost hypnotic—and it completely worked for me.
Such a gripping, thought-provoking read. I’d definitely recommend going into this one blind.
Thank you to Canwen Xu, Berkley Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publishing date: May 7th 2026
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is one of those books where not a lot “happens” on the surface, yet you’re completely gripped because of how intense it feels inside the main character’s head. From the very beginning, I was pulled into Elizabeth’s world and couldn’t look away as things slowly started to unravel.
She’s such a complex character—driven, precise, and slightly unsettling in the way she sees everything as measurable and ranked. It makes the story feel so controlled at first, which only makes the shift as things spiral even more compelling.
What really stood out to me was how relatable the pressure felt. That constant need to succeed, to be the best, to prove yourself—it’s explored in such a sharp and honest way. It’s uncomfortable at times, but in a way that really makes you think.
Canwen Xu’s writing feels confident and intentional—very focused, almost hypnotic—and it completely worked for me.
Such a gripping, thought-provoking read. I’d definitely recommend going into this one blind.
Thank you to Canwen Xu, Berkley Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publishing date: May 7th 2026
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is the funniest thing I've read in a while. Like CRAZY RICH ASIANS, I was drawn in by the title. I stayed as Elizabeth became more and more unhinged.
Elizabeth is our titular Boring Asian Female™. She gets deemed such after Harvard Law rejects her application. Nothing in her app sets her apart. She is a Columbia undergrad with brilliant grades and test scores. She has a variety of extracurriculars, but so do the other Boring Asian Females.
She is obsessed with numbers and percentiles. When another Columbia undergrad, Laura Kim, gets into Harvard, Elizabeth makes it her mission to find out why. Why is Laura so singled out? Why is Laura not boring? Why is Laura rich? Why is Laura popular? And so on.
As with books like this, the obsession takes a bit of a turn. Is Elizabeth on drugs? Is Elizabeth okay? At one point, as she is in a casual relationship with a white man, she considers keeping the baby instead of aborting it to up her chances of getting into Harvard. She thinks being a single mother will make her more interesting to Harvard.
So while this is a bit of a fun book, there are some very heavy topics. Obviously we have mental health, but we have the pressures that family and society place on Asian Americans. Being the model minority and having that closeness to whiteness is mentioned, but it's not always easy. Definitely a book I'll be thinking about for a while.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley
Elizabeth is our titular Boring Asian Female™. She gets deemed such after Harvard Law rejects her application. Nothing in her app sets her apart. She is a Columbia undergrad with brilliant grades and test scores. She has a variety of extracurriculars, but so do the other Boring Asian Females.
She is obsessed with numbers and percentiles. When another Columbia undergrad, Laura Kim, gets into Harvard, Elizabeth makes it her mission to find out why. Why is Laura so singled out? Why is Laura not boring? Why is Laura rich? Why is Laura popular? And so on.
As with books like this, the obsession takes a bit of a turn. Is Elizabeth on drugs? Is Elizabeth okay? At one point, as she is in a casual relationship with a white man, she considers keeping the baby instead of aborting it to up her chances of getting into Harvard. She thinks being a single mother will make her more interesting to Harvard.
So while this is a bit of a fun book, there are some very heavy topics. Obviously we have mental health, but we have the pressures that family and society place on Asian Americans. Being the model minority and having that closeness to whiteness is mentioned, but it's not always easy. Definitely a book I'll be thinking about for a while.
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2026
90th percentile of unhinged
Currently Reading
June 18, 2026pre-read: Yessss a book about a woman spiralling after being rejected by Harvard Law.
I'm lowkey scared to read this because I feel like it’ll hit too close to home (especially given that it’s around the time that i have to apply to grad schools as well) but hopefully it’ll enhance my reading experience 😝😝
I'm lowkey scared to read this because I feel like it’ll hit too close to home (especially given that it’s around the time that i have to apply to grad schools as well) but hopefully it’ll enhance my reading experience 😝😝
May 28, 2026
Boring Asian Female was not boring to this reader...I loved this!!!
I found our leading lady, Elizabeth Zhang, completely fascinating. I'm not saying I'd want to be her friend in real life but she was the perfectly deranged main character I love in my fiction.
Elizabeth grew up in South Dakota and was the only Asian girl in her entire high school. She was either picked on or ignored completely. Her dream is to move to New York for college and eventually attend Harvard Law.
With her plan set in motion she moves to NYC and attends Columbia University. Things are going well, her grades are perfect, and she's made good friends. All she needs now is Harvard Law and her dreams will be fulfilled.
Until her application is rejected. Despair and anger can't even begin to describe her emotions. Yet it's made all the worse when she finds out that the perfect, beautiful Laura Kim is accepted. How did this happen? She's far smarter and more ambitious than Laura could ever hope to be.
After speaking with an academic advisor of what could have gone wrong with her application she's told something she never expected to hear. You come across as boring.
"I was just another robotic Asian kid with good grades and good scores that showed I was exactly what they didn't want: a try-hard."
This sends Elizabeth spiraling in the best way possible.
I had so much fun with this.
To be honest even though Elizabeth's antics made me cringe I still felt sort-of sorry for her. Let me explain. She was ambitious almost to a fault, incredibly intelligent, determined to succeed at all costs. Yes, a lot of it was self-made pressure but a lot of the pressure was from society itself. She feared disappointing anyone, especially her Asian parents. Appearances mean everything to her so she's constantly comparing herself to her peers which manifests into her being critical of them in an effort to make herself feel better.
That being said she does become completely unhinged as the story goes on and any pity I once had for her blew away like dust in the wind.
This is Canwen Xu's debut and it's a stunner. Brilliantly written and superbly executed. I see a very bright future for Xu. 4 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for my complimentary copy.
I found our leading lady, Elizabeth Zhang, completely fascinating. I'm not saying I'd want to be her friend in real life but she was the perfectly deranged main character I love in my fiction.
Elizabeth grew up in South Dakota and was the only Asian girl in her entire high school. She was either picked on or ignored completely. Her dream is to move to New York for college and eventually attend Harvard Law.
With her plan set in motion she moves to NYC and attends Columbia University. Things are going well, her grades are perfect, and she's made good friends. All she needs now is Harvard Law and her dreams will be fulfilled.
Until her application is rejected. Despair and anger can't even begin to describe her emotions. Yet it's made all the worse when she finds out that the perfect, beautiful Laura Kim is accepted. How did this happen? She's far smarter and more ambitious than Laura could ever hope to be.
After speaking with an academic advisor of what could have gone wrong with her application she's told something she never expected to hear. You come across as boring.
"I was just another robotic Asian kid with good grades and good scores that showed I was exactly what they didn't want: a try-hard."
This sends Elizabeth spiraling in the best way possible.
I had so much fun with this.
To be honest even though Elizabeth's antics made me cringe I still felt sort-of sorry for her. Let me explain. She was ambitious almost to a fault, incredibly intelligent, determined to succeed at all costs. Yes, a lot of it was self-made pressure but a lot of the pressure was from society itself. She feared disappointing anyone, especially her Asian parents. Appearances mean everything to her so she's constantly comparing herself to her peers which manifests into her being critical of them in an effort to make herself feel better.
That being said she does become completely unhinged as the story goes on and any pity I once had for her blew away like dust in the wind.
This is Canwen Xu's debut and it's a stunner. Brilliantly written and superbly executed. I see a very bright future for Xu. 4 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for my complimentary copy.
April 30, 2026
Currently based in New York, writer Canwen Xu’s TEDx talk “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype,” went viral when it first appeared in 2016. Xu’s compelling debut novel picks up on some of its themes using them as the foundation for a critique of stereotypes; and the pressures stemming from feeling bound to conform to the myth of the model minority. It’s narrated by Elizabeth Zhang who obsessively measures herself against statistics for her age group, ethnicity and academic background, caught up in a relentless cycle of comparison and self-ranking. She was raised in South Dakota, now she’s studying at Columbia, NY. So far, so good. But Elizabeth’s frantic about her future, particularly her financial prospects, so decides she has to attend Harvard Law School. When the unimaginable happens and Elizabeth’s rejected, she becomes fixated on fellow student Laura Kim who’s secured a place. Laura’s effortlessly stylish, self-assured, everything it seems Elizabeth – just one more boring Asian female – isn’t.
Consumed by envy and curiosity about what made Korean-American Laura stand out, Elizabeth makes Laura her object of study – what she wears, what she eats, what her parents do. Elizabeth has to know everything so that she can find a way to be special too. But as time passes, Elizabeth slowly disappears down a rabbit-hole, eventually spiralling out of control. A process that involves impersonation, online smears then outright stalking gradually building towards a terrifying encounter with Laura. Elizabeth’s not only an unreliable narrator she’s also a pretty unlikeable one but, oddly enough, that’s what makes her so fascinating. Her machinations, fantasies about herself, about Laura, can be exhausting to witness but then again someone that caught up in a compulsion would be. Ultimately a gripping, insightful, tightly-constructed exploration of identity, internalised racism and the destructive force of trying to succeed in contemporary America.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Bedford Square for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
Consumed by envy and curiosity about what made Korean-American Laura stand out, Elizabeth makes Laura her object of study – what she wears, what she eats, what her parents do. Elizabeth has to know everything so that she can find a way to be special too. But as time passes, Elizabeth slowly disappears down a rabbit-hole, eventually spiralling out of control. A process that involves impersonation, online smears then outright stalking gradually building towards a terrifying encounter with Laura. Elizabeth’s not only an unreliable narrator she’s also a pretty unlikeable one but, oddly enough, that’s what makes her so fascinating. Her machinations, fantasies about herself, about Laura, can be exhausting to witness but then again someone that caught up in a compulsion would be. Ultimately a gripping, insightful, tightly-constructed exploration of identity, internalised racism and the destructive force of trying to succeed in contemporary America.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Bedford Square for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Wow that was wild! A first person POV but we don't get the character's feelings, only her thoughts. Just so wild.
Pre-Read Notes:
Honestly, anything Berkely publishes in lit fic, women's fiction, and horror just really really hits my happy reader buttons. This press and I definitely have aligned aesthetic sensibilities. I love it when they give me a chance to read early! I'm looking forward to this dark coming of age story and dip into morally subversive women's rage.
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) The middle section of the book is sort of dull by repetition. The character escalates her actions but for some reason neither story conflict nor stakes escalate with her.
My Favorite Things:
✔️ "I’m not so pretty that women find me intimidating, but I’m pretty enough that men want to be friends with me." p11 That's the sweet spot if you're lucky enough to land in it, but it's a very very small sweet spot. And it's brutal and infuriating that most women are left out of this privilege, which can honestly take a woman a long, long way. I'm only just starting this book and I can already feel the rage vibrating between the lines.
✔️ "No, I’m not racist. I’m just finely attuned to how our society is racist." p11 This is just freaking brilliant, a cleanly stated rejection of "you're racist against whiteness!"
✔️ This book makes some astute and nuanced statements about growing up in the US with our capitalist values. It makes me feel so seen in this respect. "It’s a blend of independence and vulnerability that characterizes people who had to at least partially raise themselves." p22
✔️ Oof. "I knew that rock bottom was only something humans made up to convince themselves that life could only get better. But the secret was that rock bottom didn’t exist. Each time you thought you had reached the lowest point you could go, the floor would fall out from under you, and you’d simply be demoted to an even lower level of failure and despair. It was oddly comforting, the inverse of climbing a mountain. Just like how there were no limits to how high you could go, there were no limits to how low you could fall." p225 This book is relentlessly cynical. I kind of have to admire the dedication.
Content Notes:
racism, wealth disparity, end stage capitalism, immigrant experiences in the US, racial purity tests, colorism, nepotism, performative cruelty, stalking, sabotage, pregnancy, abortion (off page), lying, cheating (academic),
Thank you to the author Canwen Xu, Berkeley Press, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of BORING ASIAN FEMALE. All views are mine.
Pre-Read Notes:
Honestly, anything Berkely publishes in lit fic, women's fiction, and horror just really really hits my happy reader buttons. This press and I definitely have aligned aesthetic sensibilities. I love it when they give me a chance to read early! I'm looking forward to this dark coming of age story and dip into morally subversive women's rage.
Final Review
(thoughts & recs) The middle section of the book is sort of dull by repetition. The character escalates her actions but for some reason neither story conflict nor stakes escalate with her.
My Favorite Things:
✔️ "I’m not so pretty that women find me intimidating, but I’m pretty enough that men want to be friends with me." p11 That's the sweet spot if you're lucky enough to land in it, but it's a very very small sweet spot. And it's brutal and infuriating that most women are left out of this privilege, which can honestly take a woman a long, long way. I'm only just starting this book and I can already feel the rage vibrating between the lines.
✔️ "No, I’m not racist. I’m just finely attuned to how our society is racist." p11 This is just freaking brilliant, a cleanly stated rejection of "you're racist against whiteness!"
✔️ This book makes some astute and nuanced statements about growing up in the US with our capitalist values. It makes me feel so seen in this respect. "It’s a blend of independence and vulnerability that characterizes people who had to at least partially raise themselves." p22
✔️ Oof. "I knew that rock bottom was only something humans made up to convince themselves that life could only get better. But the secret was that rock bottom didn’t exist. Each time you thought you had reached the lowest point you could go, the floor would fall out from under you, and you’d simply be demoted to an even lower level of failure and despair. It was oddly comforting, the inverse of climbing a mountain. Just like how there were no limits to how high you could go, there were no limits to how low you could fall." p225 This book is relentlessly cynical. I kind of have to admire the dedication.
Content Notes:
racism, wealth disparity, end stage capitalism, immigrant experiences in the US, racial purity tests, colorism, nepotism, performative cruelty, stalking, sabotage, pregnancy, abortion (off page), lying, cheating (academic),
Thank you to the author Canwen Xu, Berkeley Press, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of BORING ASIAN FEMALE. All views are mine.
May 12, 2026
I can see what this book was trying to do, and parts of it definitely worked. The pressure, expectations, and emotional damage that come with trying to be the “perfect” child with at least one strict parent felt painfully familiar. But what set this apart from the usual “asian kid experience” was Elizabeth herself being completely unhinged. Watching her spiral deeper and deeper into obsession and self-destruction just gave me anxiety.
I understand it’s satire, but after a while it just became exhausting. The lengths she went to felt so surreal. Every bad decision escalated into an even worse one, and eventually I was just sitting there thinking, “okay… where is this even going anymore?” I mostly felt drained and bored because it started to feel repetitive after a certain point.
I understand it’s satire, but after a while it just became exhausting. The lengths she went to felt so surreal. Every bad decision escalated into an even worse one, and eventually I was just sitting there thinking, “okay… where is this even going anymore?” I mostly felt drained and bored because it started to feel repetitive after a certain point.
June 12, 2026
BORING ASIAN FEMALE is completely unhinged from the very beginning and I was 100% there for every stop along the ride. Elizabeth Zhang is a top-performing undergraduate at Columbia University who has big dreams of getting into Harvard. She sees the world through cold percentages, gauging people's worth by their attractiveness and their intellect. Her friends know about this and think it's weird but for Elizabeth, who views her worth entirely through the lens of merit and grades, it just makes sense.
That's why she completely loses her shit when she finds out she didn't get into Harvard. Worse than that, this other Asian woman at her school-- a woman Elizabeth can't stand, because she's so much more exemplary at everything than she is-- got in, instead. Elizabeth thinks she knows why: she thinks the problem is that she's boring. In a racist, elitist system that exists to fulfill quotas (even when they tell you that isn't the case), Elizabeth knows that Laura Kim "stole" her spot, and she's determined to find out why, even if it plunges her down a dark hole of obsession, madness, and, yes, possibly even murder (not a spoiler: that epilogue).
As someone in the writing community, I see the effects of career jealousy in action every day. One of my friends compared this book to YELLOWFACE and that's the first thing I thought of, too. Elizabeth is a girl who seemingly has everything-- a loving and hard-working mother, a supportive friend group, an offer from one of the best colleges in the country (Georgetown)-- but none of that is enough. She has pinned her self-worth to such astronomically high standards that everything explodes when she lets herself down, and she is unable to comprehend that the call is coming from inside the house. Her focus radiates outward towards Laura. Laura, the center of her obsession and the "cause" of all her problems.
Watching this story roll to its inevitable conclusion was like watching a train wreck happen in real time, and yet somehow, the ending still surprised me. This debut absolutely ate and left no crumbs, and was a chilling and naked display of what happens when people are allowed to fester at their worst. I absolutely can't wait for whatever Canwen Xu writes next because this was fucking fantastic.
5 stars
That's why she completely loses her shit when she finds out she didn't get into Harvard. Worse than that, this other Asian woman at her school-- a woman Elizabeth can't stand, because she's so much more exemplary at everything than she is-- got in, instead. Elizabeth thinks she knows why: she thinks the problem is that she's boring. In a racist, elitist system that exists to fulfill quotas (even when they tell you that isn't the case), Elizabeth knows that Laura Kim "stole" her spot, and she's determined to find out why, even if it plunges her down a dark hole of obsession, madness, and, yes, possibly even murder (not a spoiler: that epilogue).
As someone in the writing community, I see the effects of career jealousy in action every day. One of my friends compared this book to YELLOWFACE and that's the first thing I thought of, too. Elizabeth is a girl who seemingly has everything-- a loving and hard-working mother, a supportive friend group, an offer from one of the best colleges in the country (Georgetown)-- but none of that is enough. She has pinned her self-worth to such astronomically high standards that everything explodes when she lets herself down, and she is unable to comprehend that the call is coming from inside the house. Her focus radiates outward towards Laura. Laura, the center of her obsession and the "cause" of all her problems.
Watching this story roll to its inevitable conclusion was like watching a train wreck happen in real time, and yet somehow, the ending still surprised me. This debut absolutely ate and left no crumbs, and was a chilling and naked display of what happens when people are allowed to fester at their worst. I absolutely can't wait for whatever Canwen Xu writes next because this was fucking fantastic.
5 stars
May 26, 2026
’The world shaped me, but I also shaped the world’
Boring Asian Female is a satirical-esque literary fiction following Elizabeth Zhang, an over-achieving Asian woman who attends Columbia University. It has been her life long dream to attend Harvard Law, but after she is rejected, and her ‘inferior’ classmate Laura Kim is accepted, Elizabeth will do everything in her power to understand how Laura got in and she did not, no matter the cost.
This book was a brilliantly engaging, and darkly funny look at obsession, insecurity, and egotism. Elizabeth makes for an utterly compelling ‘protagonist’, and one that you find yourself rooting for even when you shouldn’t. The way in which she sees herself and others is based on a numerical percentile system, and this system completely warps her sense of self worth. Her thoughts and delusions drove the narrative into completely insane, and at times deadly, ways, but all of it made for a book I just could not put down.
The commentaries on classism and racism were well-written, as were the discussions on mental health. This book has a lot of layers to it, and I believe everyone that reads it will take something different away - particularly after that jaw-dropping ending!
Overall, Boring Asian Female gets 4/5 stars. This is a book that is sure to get you out of a reading slump.
thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! <3
Boring Asian Female is a satirical-esque literary fiction following Elizabeth Zhang, an over-achieving Asian woman who attends Columbia University. It has been her life long dream to attend Harvard Law, but after she is rejected, and her ‘inferior’ classmate Laura Kim is accepted, Elizabeth will do everything in her power to understand how Laura got in and she did not, no matter the cost.
This book was a brilliantly engaging, and darkly funny look at obsession, insecurity, and egotism. Elizabeth makes for an utterly compelling ‘protagonist’, and one that you find yourself rooting for even when you shouldn’t. The way in which she sees herself and others is based on a numerical percentile system, and this system completely warps her sense of self worth. Her thoughts and delusions drove the narrative into completely insane, and at times deadly, ways, but all of it made for a book I just could not put down.
The commentaries on classism and racism were well-written, as were the discussions on mental health. This book has a lot of layers to it, and I believe everyone that reads it will take something different away - particularly after that jaw-dropping ending!
Overall, Boring Asian Female gets 4/5 stars. This is a book that is sure to get you out of a reading slump.
thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review! <3
Read
April 18, 2026Read during Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon.
That was one wild ride.
That was one wild ride.
May 3, 2026
yellowface but make it even more unhinged. as perfect an ending as i’ve ever read
April 28, 2026
4.25 ⭐️
Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the free earc !
I read this a few weeks ago and I’m not even kidding…it’s still living in my head a little.
This is definitely for the weird girl / obsession lovers. If you like watching a character spiral (in the most “I can’t look away” way), this is a read for you !
We start with our FMC finding out she didn’t get into Harvard Law… which has basically been her entire personality, plan, and future for as long as she can remember. And the way she reacts? Immediate confusion. Like, this has to be a mistake. Her scores are high, her application is perfect… so how did this happen?
While finishing her final year at Columbia, she becomes completely fixated on “fixing” this. Not moving on. Not choosing another school. Fixing it. And then we meet other characters along the way..including another Asian girl at Columbia who did get into Harvard Law. That’s when things start to… unravel a bit. She cannot stop comparing, questioning, and obsessing over why her and not me.
And from there?? Things just keep escalating.
Every time I thought “okay, this is where she accepts it and moves on”… nope. It somehow gets worse. More chaotic. More unhinged. And honestly, that’s what made it so entertaining.
But underneath all that, there’s also a lot about pressure she put on herself to be perfect, successful, impressive. To live this very specific life of power and luxury. To make your parents proud and make all their dreams for you come true. And how dangerous that mindset can get when your entire identity is tied to one outcome.
I also liked how the conversation of privilege vs others is brought into the story as well as social media and the impact it can have on lives. With a lot happening with our characters we still dig into some deep issues and it was done very well.
Overall, this was such an engaging, slightly unhinged read that kept surprising me. It was hard to put down. Would recommend !
Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the free earc !
I read this a few weeks ago and I’m not even kidding…it’s still living in my head a little.
This is definitely for the weird girl / obsession lovers. If you like watching a character spiral (in the most “I can’t look away” way), this is a read for you !
We start with our FMC finding out she didn’t get into Harvard Law… which has basically been her entire personality, plan, and future for as long as she can remember. And the way she reacts? Immediate confusion. Like, this has to be a mistake. Her scores are high, her application is perfect… so how did this happen?
While finishing her final year at Columbia, she becomes completely fixated on “fixing” this. Not moving on. Not choosing another school. Fixing it. And then we meet other characters along the way..including another Asian girl at Columbia who did get into Harvard Law. That’s when things start to… unravel a bit. She cannot stop comparing, questioning, and obsessing over why her and not me.
And from there?? Things just keep escalating.
Every time I thought “okay, this is where she accepts it and moves on”… nope. It somehow gets worse. More chaotic. More unhinged. And honestly, that’s what made it so entertaining.
But underneath all that, there’s also a lot about pressure she put on herself to be perfect, successful, impressive. To live this very specific life of power and luxury. To make your parents proud and make all their dreams for you come true. And how dangerous that mindset can get when your entire identity is tied to one outcome.
I also liked how the conversation of privilege vs others is brought into the story as well as social media and the impact it can have on lives. With a lot happening with our characters we still dig into some deep issues and it was done very well.
Overall, this was such an engaging, slightly unhinged read that kept surprising me. It was hard to put down. Would recommend !
Did Not Finish
May 7, 2026why did no one warn me about what she decides to do, er, i guess *not* to do, about 40% in ugh
May 30, 2026
This book follows Elizabeth Zhang, a Columbia student, who becomes increasingly obsessed with a follow classmate who gets into Harvard Law instead of her.
There were some jaw dropping, extremely unhinged moments in this book that made it hard to put down.
I think the themes (ambition, identify, self worth) were incredible important and the perspective was an interesting lens for me to read through.
The first chapter is way more significant than I expected it to be and really made me appreciate the plot even more.
There were some jaw dropping, extremely unhinged moments in this book that made it hard to put down.
I think the themes (ambition, identify, self worth) were incredible important and the perspective was an interesting lens for me to read through.
The first chapter is way more significant than I expected it to be and really made me appreciate the plot even more.
April 8, 2026
Elizabeth Zhang is the only Asian student in her high school in South Dakota.
Eager to escape small town life, she enrolls in Columbia University right after high school.
She also has everything planned out during her freshman year.
She will maintain a very high GPA, start studying for the LSAT, and work on deciding which professors to ask for recommendation letters when the time comes.
Despite having a 3.94 GPA and nearly perfect LSAT score, she receives a rejection letter from Harvard Law School, followed by rejections from Yale, Stanford and Columbia.
The only acceptance letter comes from her “safety school”, Georgetown (which would be many other’s first choice).
Not just any law school will work for Liz; she is dead set on Harvard.
Soon after, she discovers that a peer at Columbia, Laura Kim, was accepted to Harvard.
It’s natural to be disappointed and jealous when we don’t get something that we want and then discover that another person, who we don’t particularly like does get it.
But for Liz, it goes beyond that.
She is OBSESSED with Laura, to the point of stalking, in an attempt to learn why she got into Harvard and Liz didn’t.
There were several times throughout the book where my jaw literally dropped!
It is amazing how such an intelligent person could make so many terrible decisions and end up in so many ridiculous situations.
She definitely has book smarts, but as I often say, “common sense is a flower that doesn’t grown in everyone’s garden”.
Once I got to the 40-50% mark, I couldn’t put the book down.
I didn’t particularly like Liz, but the way she kept spiraling by making poor decision after poor decision was something I couldn’t take my eyes away from.
It felt like watching an out of control car with inoperable brakes that you knew was going to crash.
If you enjoyed Best Offer Wins, or just have a thing for books with unhinged MCs, you’ll likely enjoy this.
A lot of it reminded me of Best Offer Wins, because in both books we have an unhinged FMC with a strong sense of entitlement.
In their mind, they truly believe that something was meant for them and will do just about anything to get it, laws and ethics be damned.
Thanks to NetGalley, Berkeley Publishing Group and Canwen Xu for proving me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: April 26, 2026
Eager to escape small town life, she enrolls in Columbia University right after high school.
She also has everything planned out during her freshman year.
She will maintain a very high GPA, start studying for the LSAT, and work on deciding which professors to ask for recommendation letters when the time comes.
Despite having a 3.94 GPA and nearly perfect LSAT score, she receives a rejection letter from Harvard Law School, followed by rejections from Yale, Stanford and Columbia.
The only acceptance letter comes from her “safety school”, Georgetown (which would be many other’s first choice).
Not just any law school will work for Liz; she is dead set on Harvard.
Soon after, she discovers that a peer at Columbia, Laura Kim, was accepted to Harvard.
It’s natural to be disappointed and jealous when we don’t get something that we want and then discover that another person, who we don’t particularly like does get it.
But for Liz, it goes beyond that.
She is OBSESSED with Laura, to the point of stalking, in an attempt to learn why she got into Harvard and Liz didn’t.
There were several times throughout the book where my jaw literally dropped!
It is amazing how such an intelligent person could make so many terrible decisions and end up in so many ridiculous situations.
She definitely has book smarts, but as I often say, “common sense is a flower that doesn’t grown in everyone’s garden”.
Once I got to the 40-50% mark, I couldn’t put the book down.
I didn’t particularly like Liz, but the way she kept spiraling by making poor decision after poor decision was something I couldn’t take my eyes away from.
It felt like watching an out of control car with inoperable brakes that you knew was going to crash.
If you enjoyed Best Offer Wins, or just have a thing for books with unhinged MCs, you’ll likely enjoy this.
A lot of it reminded me of Best Offer Wins, because in both books we have an unhinged FMC with a strong sense of entitlement.
In their mind, they truly believe that something was meant for them and will do just about anything to get it, laws and ethics be damned.
Thanks to NetGalley, Berkeley Publishing Group and Canwen Xu for proving me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: April 26, 2026
Read
May 14, 2026Thoughts while reading:
- Wow. I recently finished a book from the POV of a remorseless serial killer and yet I have never encountered a less likeable POV character.😅 Quite a feat.
- Ah, I do love the one-sided obsession trope, and a good baseless, unhinged vendetta.🙂↕️
- She embodies every single bit of the awful stereotype, right on the nose... I'm so curious where this is going!
- Aw her mom seems so lovely. It's sad she felt she needed to block her off from her roots.
- LMAO she's really lamenting the fact that colleges want actually good people vs. people checking off the good boxes to get in (re: volunteer work). I really hope her arc makes her at least 1% more selfless, please.
-
- Wow. I recently finished a book from the POV of a remorseless serial killer and yet I have never encountered a less likeable POV character.😅 Quite a feat.
- Ah, I do love the one-sided obsession trope, and a good baseless, unhinged vendetta.🙂↕️
- She embodies every single bit of the awful stereotype, right on the nose... I'm so curious where this is going!
- Aw her mom seems so lovely. It's sad she felt she needed to block her off from her roots.
- LMAO she's really lamenting the fact that colleges want actually good people vs. people checking off the good boxes to get in (re: volunteer work). I really hope her arc makes her at least 1% more selfless, please.
-
May 5, 2026
Smart, dryly funny, also sad and a bit frightening. Pretty much the perfect picture of a woman whose self identity starts to crack and who is totally unprepared for the fallout.
October 14, 2025
What a wild ride! Elizabeth was a terrifying yet still relatable character. She becomes consumed with wanting to attend the school of her dreams and when she doesn’t get in she seems to spiral. The spiral is such a wild ride and at times I was cheering her on but other times I found myself so nervous for her and the lengths she would go to just to get what she wanted and felt she deserved. With themes of societal pressure, race, a campus death, identity theft, and academic scandal there are so many ups and downs throughout this book. I gasped at the twists and felt the heavy burden of guilt Elizabeth did. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
May 22, 2026
man, this was tedious to get through. i really wanted to finish it because i received the ARC from netgalley and didnt want my feedback ratio to get worse. so i endured. if it wasn’t for netgalley (and im going to be honest) i would have 10000% DNFd.
the writing style was so sterile and impersonal. there was nothing interesting about elizabeth, the narrator. and i get the title, i really do. but there was nothing redeeming about her. her only personality trait was to get into harvard law. and i understand that that was the purpose of the book, but even so—she was so bland. she wasn’t funny, she wasn’t funny, she wasn’t mean, she wasn’t nice. she was just a bland caricature of what i guess the writer wanted. and all of this would have been somewhat okay except for the fact that the writing style was so impassioned. the plot itself got ridiculous towards the middle, most of elizabeth’s actions got so far fetched. and i was SO BORED!!!
i wanted to like this, i really did. i like books that explore the female psyche in unhinged books. i even thought that this would be the perfect companion to rf kuang’s “yellowface.” but it sadly failed on every point. it wasn’t entertaining. the writing was not done well. the characters weren’t compelling. the themes were not executed well—at one point, i just felt like elizabeth was one of those minorities that honestly don’t care about other BIPOC, unless she would directly benefit from them. she came across as a dumb psychopath.
i honestly have no issue reading books with unlikeable or immoral narrators but elizabeth was insufferable. and the writing style did not help.
by the end, i really was praying for elizabeth’s downfall. i was so disappointed. i don’t recommend this at all.
the writing style was so sterile and impersonal. there was nothing interesting about elizabeth, the narrator. and i get the title, i really do. but there was nothing redeeming about her. her only personality trait was to get into harvard law. and i understand that that was the purpose of the book, but even so—she was so bland. she wasn’t funny, she wasn’t funny, she wasn’t mean, she wasn’t nice. she was just a bland caricature of what i guess the writer wanted. and all of this would have been somewhat okay except for the fact that the writing style was so impassioned. the plot itself got ridiculous towards the middle, most of elizabeth’s actions got so far fetched. and i was SO BORED!!!
i wanted to like this, i really did. i like books that explore the female psyche in unhinged books. i even thought that this would be the perfect companion to rf kuang’s “yellowface.” but it sadly failed on every point. it wasn’t entertaining. the writing was not done well. the characters weren’t compelling. the themes were not executed well—at one point, i just felt like elizabeth was one of those minorities that honestly don’t care about other BIPOC, unless she would directly benefit from them. she came across as a dumb psychopath.
i honestly have no issue reading books with unlikeable or immoral narrators but elizabeth was insufferable. and the writing style did not help.
by the end, i really was praying for elizabeth’s downfall. i was so disappointed. i don’t recommend this at all.
November 9, 2025
I am extremely grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the privilege of reviewing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
Boring Asian Female is another take on the familiar "envy-driven" narrative, this time set in academia. The story centers on Columbia University senior Elizabeth Zhang - an overachieving daughter of Chinese immigrants. Although Liz's application for Harvard Law School ticks all the boxes - stellar LSAT scores, nearly perfect GPA, powerful immigrant story - she finds herself turned down by her dream school...and several of her backups. When Liz seeks answers as to why she wasn't good enough she is hit with the reality that she may be just too boring.
The rejection begins a downward spiral of declining mental health and a dark obsession with a classmate, Korean-American student Laura Kim, who DID make the cut for Harvard Law. Elizabeth becomes consumed with figuring out what Laura has that she doesn't, to the point of stalking her and trying to emulate her every move. When Elizabeth's mind starts to fracture and she imagines herself becoming the girl that Harvard wanted, the lines between envy and evil become dangerously blurred.
There were pros and cons here. I think this is a solid-enough debut novel that will find traction with readers who enjoy academia, thrillers and stories of psychological unravelings. There is a lot of exploring racial and cultural tropes, especially the whole "Asian diligence" and the uncomfortable space of being "white adjacent" to some but not others.
I was expecting this to lean more on satire and some darker subversiveness but I felt like I got more of a straightforward thriller with Asian-American women. The risk of the obssession trope is that you can end up with a main character who is largely unlikeable. That definitely was the case for me. Every time I tried to root for Elizabeth, she did something absolutely awful and then spent a few paragraphs justifying it. I wanted there to be somewhat of a redemption arc but it didn't happen.
It wasn't a badly written book and I think it will find an audience - it just wasn't for me. 3.25 stars
Boring Asian Female is another take on the familiar "envy-driven" narrative, this time set in academia. The story centers on Columbia University senior Elizabeth Zhang - an overachieving daughter of Chinese immigrants. Although Liz's application for Harvard Law School ticks all the boxes - stellar LSAT scores, nearly perfect GPA, powerful immigrant story - she finds herself turned down by her dream school...and several of her backups. When Liz seeks answers as to why she wasn't good enough she is hit with the reality that she may be just too boring.
The rejection begins a downward spiral of declining mental health and a dark obsession with a classmate, Korean-American student Laura Kim, who DID make the cut for Harvard Law. Elizabeth becomes consumed with figuring out what Laura has that she doesn't, to the point of stalking her and trying to emulate her every move. When Elizabeth's mind starts to fracture and she imagines herself becoming the girl that Harvard wanted, the lines between envy and evil become dangerously blurred.
There were pros and cons here. I think this is a solid-enough debut novel that will find traction with readers who enjoy academia, thrillers and stories of psychological unravelings. There is a lot of exploring racial and cultural tropes, especially the whole "Asian diligence" and the uncomfortable space of being "white adjacent" to some but not others.
I was expecting this to lean more on satire and some darker subversiveness but I felt like I got more of a straightforward thriller with Asian-American women. The risk of the obssession trope is that you can end up with a main character who is largely unlikeable. That definitely was the case for me. Every time I tried to root for Elizabeth, she did something absolutely awful and then spent a few paragraphs justifying it. I wanted there to be somewhat of a redemption arc but it didn't happen.
It wasn't a badly written book and I think it will find an audience - it just wasn't for me. 3.25 stars
December 9, 2025
Thank you to Berkeley Publishing Group for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is the story of a diligent, motivated Columbia University student named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is singularly focused on one goal: Harvard Law School admission. When she finds that she isn’t, in fact, going to be attending the dream school that has occupied so many years, she begins a downward spiral of self-loathing, obsession, and amoral desperation.
This book was absolutely riveting for the absolutely brilliant character work the author has done with Elizabeth, our main character. While she’s our main character, she’s far from a protagonist. Xu has created such a perfectly loathsome narrator. Each time you think Elizabeth is close to making a breakthrough and realizing how messed up she is, she veers in an equally terrible direction. She’s judgmental, self-loathing, myopic, Machiavellian and pathetic. The story arc about her attempting to keep a pregnancy for the sole purpose of a graduate school admissions essay is the perfectly sociopathic icing on the terrible narrator cake. While some reviewers didn’t like just how detestable Elizabeth was, for me, this was half the fun. Sometimes you don’t want to root for the narrator-instead you just want a wild ride.
I think that the author also touches on some very interesting themes throughout the book. Something that I really loved was the way she talked about social media and its influence on people’s lives. At various times social media is deployed to create drama, do research, or even attempt ruining different characters. Social media has become omnipresent, and it has a great influence in this story as well. I also loved the way that the author discussed internal/private struggle versus observed privilege. Certain characters that do have an obvious amount of privilege also carry immense baggage and trauma.
I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I devoured it. If you’re looking for a young woman behaving absolutely unhinged, Xu’s story is going to be a must-read. 5/5!
Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu is the story of a diligent, motivated Columbia University student named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is singularly focused on one goal: Harvard Law School admission. When she finds that she isn’t, in fact, going to be attending the dream school that has occupied so many years, she begins a downward spiral of self-loathing, obsession, and amoral desperation.
This book was absolutely riveting for the absolutely brilliant character work the author has done with Elizabeth, our main character. While she’s our main character, she’s far from a protagonist. Xu has created such a perfectly loathsome narrator. Each time you think Elizabeth is close to making a breakthrough and realizing how messed up she is, she veers in an equally terrible direction. She’s judgmental, self-loathing, myopic, Machiavellian and pathetic. The story arc about her attempting to keep a pregnancy for the sole purpose of a graduate school admissions essay is the perfectly sociopathic icing on the terrible narrator cake. While some reviewers didn’t like just how detestable Elizabeth was, for me, this was half the fun. Sometimes you don’t want to root for the narrator-instead you just want a wild ride.
I think that the author also touches on some very interesting themes throughout the book. Something that I really loved was the way she talked about social media and its influence on people’s lives. At various times social media is deployed to create drama, do research, or even attempt ruining different characters. Social media has become omnipresent, and it has a great influence in this story as well. I also loved the way that the author discussed internal/private struggle versus observed privilege. Certain characters that do have an obvious amount of privilege also carry immense baggage and trauma.
I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I devoured it. If you’re looking for a young woman behaving absolutely unhinged, Xu’s story is going to be a must-read. 5/5!
May 4, 2026
I love a delulu narrator lol
June 20, 2026
This has to be one of the most egotistical, delusional, unhinged character that I have ever read. And I did not like her one little bit. Elizabeth Zhang was exhausting to read about.
I understand what this book was trying to do but it was just too over the top for me. Elizabeth believes she is a shoe in for Harvard University and when she doesn’t get in she blames everyone but herself. Instead of being happy for fellow class mates she vows to bring them down in horrendous fashion. She is boring, all she thinks about is herself and how hard she has it. Oh woe is me… urgh!! Jealously is ugly she just used people for her own agenda.
The big one, without spoilers… when That happened , it lost me. It was a truly awful thing to do, to even think k about doing.
As always, these are my thoughts and feelings on this book. You may love it, you may not. It is certainly a decisive book judging by the reviews that I have seen. Can’t love them all right.
This was the Thriller Influencer Book of the Month for June, thank you HQ for my copy but it just wasn’t for me at all.
I understand what this book was trying to do but it was just too over the top for me. Elizabeth believes she is a shoe in for Harvard University and when she doesn’t get in she blames everyone but herself. Instead of being happy for fellow class mates she vows to bring them down in horrendous fashion. She is boring, all she thinks about is herself and how hard she has it. Oh woe is me… urgh!! Jealously is ugly she just used people for her own agenda.
The big one, without spoilers… when That happened , it lost me. It was a truly awful thing to do, to even think k about doing.
As always, these are my thoughts and feelings on this book. You may love it, you may not. It is certainly a decisive book judging by the reviews that I have seen. Can’t love them all right.
This was the Thriller Influencer Book of the Month for June, thank you HQ for my copy but it just wasn’t for me at all.
May 12, 2026
Boring is the perfect word to describe this book. Just the ramblings of a delusional, self-absorbed, status-obsessed college student. Not impressed. Not interested. No thank you.
December 19, 2025
2,5 stars
"Boring Asian Female" was not what I expected:
I liked the overall premise, but the writing fell somewhat flat for me. The protagonist was too over the top for me, and the other characters weren't all that well developed.
While I couldn't stop reading the book, I can't say I really enjoyed it.
"Boring Asian Female" was not what I expected:
I liked the overall premise, but the writing fell somewhat flat for me. The protagonist was too over the top for me, and the other characters weren't all that well developed.
While I couldn't stop reading the book, I can't say I really enjoyed it.
May 24, 2026
4.5 stars
I fear for the world if Elizabeth and Amy from Gone Girl ever met.
I fear for the world if Elizabeth and Amy from Gone Girl ever met.
June 1, 2026
4 stars. Stalker Alert — Elizabeth’s obsession with Laura is uncomfortable to watch, but impossible to look away from. What follows is a darkly funny spiral of jealousy, ambition, and identity. The audiobook had me completely hooked w/Carolyn Kang’s narrating - she was fantastic! Listened for AAPI Heritage Month. 🎧 Pub. 4/28/26
May 10, 2026
I am genuinely conflicted by this book. There were stretches where I was fully locked in and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. And others where I felt completely stalled out. It’s a book that seems very aware of what it’s trying to say, even if the path it takes to get there doesn’t always land.
I believe Canwen Xu is grappling with a pretty stark idea: life isn’t fair. Good things happen to people who don’t deserve them, and bad things happen to people who do. There’s an intentional bluntness to that message, and I can appreciate the honesty of it.
But here’s where I struggled. The journey to that conclusion didn’t always feel satisfying. The pacing and engagement level felt uneven, and while I understood the point being made, I wasn’t always convinced by how the story chose to make it. And maybe that’s part of the disconnect: spending an entire novel sitting with the idea that life is fundamentally unfair isn’t exactly an enjoyable experience. It’s real, sure, but that doesn’t necessarily make it compelling to read about for three hundreds of pages.
So I’m torn. There’s something thoughtful and deliberate here, but it didn’t fully come together for me. It’s the kind of book I can respect more than I actually enjoyed.
I believe Canwen Xu is grappling with a pretty stark idea: life isn’t fair. Good things happen to people who don’t deserve them, and bad things happen to people who do. There’s an intentional bluntness to that message, and I can appreciate the honesty of it.
But here’s where I struggled. The journey to that conclusion didn’t always feel satisfying. The pacing and engagement level felt uneven, and while I understood the point being made, I wasn’t always convinced by how the story chose to make it. And maybe that’s part of the disconnect: spending an entire novel sitting with the idea that life is fundamentally unfair isn’t exactly an enjoyable experience. It’s real, sure, but that doesn’t necessarily make it compelling to read about for three hundreds of pages.
So I’m torn. There’s something thoughtful and deliberate here, but it didn’t fully come together for me. It’s the kind of book I can respect more than I actually enjoyed.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I love reading about envy and I love an academia setting. This novel was perfect if that's your style, we follow Elizabeth, a Chinese American student at Columbia who is trying to get into Harvard but is rejected, apparently for being too stereotypically Asian: a Boring Asian Female. When she finds out that fellow Asian student Laura, a talented Korean American, has been accepted, Elizabeth feels there is something wrong: either Laura shouldn't have been accepted, or she must have lied on her application. She starts studying Laura to find out, scrolling her Instagram endlessly, following her around campus, and becomes obsessed with her.
Elizabeth is a great villain because she isn't outright awful, her awfulness is mostly inside her own head. She is convinced of her own greatness. She categorises people, including her friends, in percentiles: she is in the 70th percentile for looks, 90th percentile for intelligence. She rates Laura in the 90th percentile for looks. She considers having a baby at 21 to have something to write about in her Harvard application. She uses her friends for social credit. She becomes gradually worse at every page, and she has no redeeming feature. I loved reading about her and I loved the pace of the novel, I found it really entertaining and a pleasure to read.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
Elizabeth is a great villain because she isn't outright awful, her awfulness is mostly inside her own head. She is convinced of her own greatness. She categorises people, including her friends, in percentiles: she is in the 70th percentile for looks, 90th percentile for intelligence. She rates Laura in the 90th percentile for looks. She considers having a baby at 21 to have something to write about in her Harvard application. She uses her friends for social credit. She becomes gradually worse at every page, and she has no redeeming feature. I loved reading about her and I loved the pace of the novel, I found it really entertaining and a pleasure to read.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
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